Salta: Wichí community denounces discrimination in intercultural nursing program
The Fwiñol Community (Carboncito Mission) denounced racist and discriminatory practices by a teacher of the Higher Technical Degree in Intercultural Bilingual Nursing.
Share
The Fwiñol Community (Misión Carboncito), of the Wichí people, denounced racist and discriminatory practices by a professor in the Higher Technical Program in Intercultural Bilingual Nursing. The program is offered in the municipality of Embarcación, in the north of the province of Salta.
The community demanded that Mirian Yave be removed from her teaching position in the program. They allege that she mistreats Indigenous students and that she changed the rules for passing the course. Furthermore, Fwiñol asserts that the professor "does not have the qualifications" to serve as an intercultural liaison officer.
A government source told Presentes that a general supervisor and the area supervisor visited the school and found insufficient grounds to remove the teacher. Her performance will only be monitored through classroom observations and pedagogical guidance. A pedagogical support program will also be designed for students who have expressed difficulties in their coursework. They stated that there will be academic monitoring of each student.
Prohibitions and criminal charges
The community filed its first complaint on April 23 in a letter to the general supervisor, Carolina Calderón. Since then, there have been other instances of protest, including a meeting with the Minister of Education, Cristina Fiore.
However, “they felt that the Ministry didn't give them any response. That's why they filed a complaint with the police,” Seila Pérez, a member of the Guarani people and a professor in the program, told this agency. Presentes obtained four criminal complaints filed by students in the program against Yave for mistreatment, including being prohibited from speaking “in their language” in his classes.
The Intercultural Bilingual Nursing Technician program originated within the Fwiñol community. It was approved by the State in 2021 through a joint resolution of the Ministries of Health and Education of Salta. Members of this community and specialists collaborated on the curriculum design. The program operates as an annex of the Higher Education Institute (IES) No. 6015.
Pedagogy of cruelty
The community has been reporting that Indigenous students are suffering “psychological and spiritual harm at the hands of teacher Mirian Yave.” This has led many to drop out of the program “for fear of being shamed.”.
The community also criticizes Yave for “never approaching” community authorities to engage in dialogue, as is customary. Furthermore, they allege that he “toured the community with students, without consulting community authorities, taking photos to publish.” They denounce these actions as “violating the protection of their culture and territory and infringing upon the National Constitution and ILO Convention 169.”.
Fwiñol also noted that the teacher “does not belong to any Indigenous community nor has she shown any interest in learning about our culture through intercultural dialogue .” The curriculum for the program stipulates that teachers must speak at least one Indigenous language. This is not the case for Yave, a fact acknowledged by the Ministry of Education itself.
Furthermore, the community maintains that the coordinator in charge of the IES rectorship, Mariela Paredes, engages in arbitrary actions and preferential treatment of non-indigenous teachers.
The Intercultural Bilingual Nursing program was designed primarily for members of Indigenous communities. From its inception, it was established that it should be developed within an Indigenous community and that its instructors should possess an intercultural background.
But the community claims that Fwiñol students were immediately excluded. Furthermore, they believe that only 20% of the teaching staff have the profile outlined in the curriculum . This “eliminates the possibility of the program being developed according to the curriculum provided by the Intercultural Bilingual Nurse approach.”
“The pedagogy of cruelty begins to take hold, with teachers who belittle Wichí culture. They demand that students speak in Spanish, manipulate the conditions to pass or regularize their subjects, ignore or fail to listen to Wichí students, and display intolerance towards them. The teachers manipulate schedules and supporting documentation of evaluations, exercising their authoritarianism as educators within this banking and positivist educational system,” the Community stated.
Dialogue and understanding table
Fwiñol is circulating a manifesto in support of students “in the face of the racism, discrimination, and oppression they are suffering as a consequence of the historical conquest and colonization of 532 years ago.” The manifesto insists that in response to their complaints to the Ministry of Education and the justice system, “we have only received reprisals in the form of persecution, humiliation, and stigmatization.”.
To resolve this conflict, Fwiñol proposes a "Dialogue and Political and Intercultural Understanding Forum." This forum should include the political and legal representatives of the community, students, specialists, and community members who drafted the curriculum. Also participating should be the legal team from the Andhes organization (which has been supporting Fwiñol), the Coordination of Intercultural Bilingual Education, the Minister of Education, and the Education Committee of the Salta Chamber of Deputies.
It excludes the Supervision from this Table, since it claims that during the visit of officials from this area, "the hunting and revictimization" of those who had already suffered violence began.
Seila Pérez elaborated on this point. In her opinion, state authorities should “listen to the community and the students of Carboncito.” “Interculturalism cannot be built if the community is not allowed to participate,” she explained, before suggesting that the program should be placed under community control as a way to ensure their involvement.
In October of last year, Pérez and fellow teacher Sara Domínguez, from the Kolla people, filed a complaint against Yave with INADI for “racist and discriminatory expressions”.
We are present
We are committed to journalism that delves into the territories and conducts thorough investigations, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.
SUPPORT US
FOLLOW US
Related notes
We are present
This and other stories are not usually on the media agenda. Together we can bring them to light.